Global Media Post » Science and Technology

“Nasa hopes to send a craft into the Sun’s atmosphere”

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:50:08 +0000

“Nasa is aiming to get closer to the Sun than ever before, with plans to plunge a car-sized unmanned spacecraft into the star’s outer atmosphere. Before it is destroyed by the sizzling temperatures exceeding 1,400C (2,550F), the craft will have to obtain valuable data about our parent star. The solar probe project is expected to cost in the region of about $180m (£120m). To withstand the temperatures and the radiation, the instruments will be protected by a huge carbon-composite heat shield that still needs to be built. Researchers say that the Sun is one of the few places people have not yet sent a spacecraft. ‘Trying to understand how the Sun influences the Earth is quite a big thing these days’, Richard Harrison, a solar physicist from the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, told BBC News. The one thing we’ve never done is actually go there. You think of a spacecraft flying past Mars or Venus, but with the Sun, it is a little bit different. [But we are capable of sending] spacecraft near the Sun and that’s the plan for the next generation of spacecraft”

“Nasa could land probe on asteroid hurtling towards Earth”

Editor — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:24:29 +0000

“Asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a one-in-1,000 chance of hitting the Earth before the year 2200, would cause an explosion equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs detonating at once. An analysis of its orbit has predicted that it is most likely to hit us on September 24, 2182 but scientists want to collect a sample of the rock to help forecast its trajectory more accurately. Space mission to explore asteroids If Nasa gives the plan the green light, the spacecraft would blast off in 2106 to map out and collect rock samples from the asteroid, which is 1,800 feet-wide. The planned mission, called OSIRIS-Rex, is one of three finalists in competition for funding as part of the cash-strapped US space agency’s New Frontiers program. The other contenders are missions to the Moon and to Venus respectively and the winner will be announced next year. Plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid will come under discussion at a two-day Nasa workshop in Washington DC… Nasa has officially classified RQ36 as a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ as it passes within about 280,000 miles of Earth. Its orbit, which brings it closer to Earth, makes it easier to reach than other asteroids. Michael Drake, who would lead the OSIRIS-Rex team if the project was chosen, said: ‘Being one of the easiest targets to get to coincidentally means that it also can easily hit us, too’ “

Clark Chapman, a planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said an impact from RQ36 would cause a catastrophic explosion.

“It would be an enormous impact, like hundreds of the biggest nuclear bombs ever built exploding at once, creating a crater maybe 10 kilometers across,” he told National Geographic magazine.

An expert panel appointed by Barack Obama, the US president, to assess Nasa’s future space programme last year recommended bypassing the Moon in favour of a mission to land on an unidentified asteroid.

The plan mirrors the plot of the 1998 Hollywood film Deep Impact, in which the White House sends a spaceship to land on an asteroid which is hurtling towards the Earth.

“Stephen Hawking: Abandon the Earth”

Editor — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:45:50 +0000

“Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has some advice for the people of Earth – it’s time to get off. ‘I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space’, Hawking said to Big Think , a global forum that includes interviews with experts. ‘It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let’s hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load’. The physicist called humankind’s survival ‘a question of touch and go’ and referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963 as one time people narrowly avoided extinction. He also referred to the 22,600 stockpiled nuclear weapons, including 7,770 still operational, scattered around the planet. If that doesn’t drive us off, University of Sussex astrophysicist Dr. Robert Smith said global warming may reach a point ‘where all of Earth’s water will simply evaporate’. He said life will disappear on Earth long before the 7.6 billion years some say the aging sun will expand and destroy Earth”

NASA: Asteroid ‘could raze city the size of London’ in the future!

Editor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:27:10 +0000

“A giant asteroid could be on course to hit Earth causing massive devastation, space boffins revealed today. An international team including NASA experts warned a 560m wide space rock has been discovered heading this way. If it did hit Earth it would blast a crater several miles wide and could devastate a city the size of London, wreaking death and destruction for hundreds of miles in every direction. Anyone concerned by the warning has one thing to be thankful for — if it does hit it is most likely to happen in 2182. That gives scientists 172 years to work out how to deal with it. The asteroid was discovered in 1999 and is dubbed 1999 RQ36. The scientists had labelled it a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ of the Apollo group because its orbit brings it close to Earth. But it was then considered a much lower risk!”

“Mars site may hold ‘buried life’ “

Editor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:20:03 +0000

Is Nili Fossae the site where life on ancient Mars was buried and preserved?

“Researchers have identified rocks that they say could contain the fossilised remains of life on early Mars. The team made their discovery in the ancient rocks of Nili Fossae. Their work has revealed that this trench on the dark side of Mars is a ‘dead ringer’ for a region in Australia where some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth has been buried and preserved in mineral form. They report the findings in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The team, led by a scientist from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (Seti) in California, believes that the same ‘hydrothermal’ processes that preserved these markers of life on Earth could have taken place on Mars at Nili Fossae. The rocks there are up to four billion years old, which means they have been around for three-quarters of the history of Mars. When, in 2008, scientists first discovered carbonate in those rocks the Mars science community reacted with great excitement; carbonate had long been sought as definitive evidence that the Red planet was habitable – that life could have existed there. Carbonate is what life turns into, in many cases, when it is buried – if it does not turn in to oil. The white cliffs of Dover, for example, are white because they contain limestone, or calcium carbonate. The mineral comes from the fossilised remains shells and bones and provides a way to investigate the ancient life that existed on early Earth”

“Google’s China changes in line with law”

Editor — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:12:25 +0000

“China renewed Google’s Internet license after it pledged to obey censorship laws and stop automatically switching mainland users to its unfiltered Hong Kong site, an official said Tuesday. It was Beijing’s first public comment on its decision to allow Google to continue operating a China website following a public clash over censorship. The company closed its China search engine in March but still offers music and other services in China. Google promised to ‘obey Chinese law’ and avoid linking to material deemed a threat to national security or social stability, said Zhang Feng, director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Telecoms Development Department, at a news conference. Zhang also cited Google’s planned ‘rectification and reform,’ apparently a reference to the US search giant’s commitment in its June 29 renewal application to stop switching users automatically to its Hong Kong search site. ’The rectification and reform in the annual application basically conforms to regulation,’ Zhang said”

“Scientists develop ‘fake’ genetically-engineered blood for use on the battlefield”

Editor — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:58:53 +0000

US soldiers carry a wounded soldier in Iraq. The breakthrough could help provide enough blood for battlefield transfusions

“American scientists have developed ‘artificial’ blood that could soon be used to treat wounded soldiers in battle. The genetically-engineered blood is created by taking cells from umbilical cords and using a machine to mimic the way bone marrow works to produce mass quantities of usable units of red blood cells. Known as ‘blood pharming’ the programme was launched in 2008 by the Pentagon’s experimental arm, Darpa, to create blood to treat soldiers in far-flung battlefields. The firm Arteriocyte, which received $1.95 million for the project, has now sent off its first shipment of O-negative blood to the food and drugs watchdog in the US, the FDA”

“Beijing renews China’s Google licence”

Editor — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:36:28 +0000

“Google said Beijing has renewed the licence it needs to continue operating a website in China, securing the search giant’s foothold in the country’s fast-growing Internet market despite tensions over censorship. The renewal of the license to provide Internet content had been in doubt due to the rocky relations between Google and Chinese authorities over hacking of Gmail accounts and censorship of Google search results. ‘We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP (Internet content provider) licence and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China,’ said an emailed statement by Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond. The statement, which gave no other details, also was posted on Google’s blog. There was no immediate statement posted on the website of China’s ministry of industry and information technology”

Microsoft Office 2010: “Six key features you should know”

Editor — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:59:49 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 began appearing on retail shelves, and a lot of people have asked me whether they should upgrade. The answer, as always, depends on what you are going to do with the product. In general, I think this is a more important upgrade for larger businesses than for home users and small businesses. But it does have a number of neat features many individuals will like. I’ve been using Office 2010 as my primary office suite, and have to say I’ve been very happy with it. Here are the five new features I think will be most attractive for home and small business users:

The Return of the “File” Menu: A lot of people liked the “ribbon” user interface that Microsoft introduced with Office 2007; and a lot of people hated it, at least at first. If you currently use Office 2003 or earlier, you will still find the change a bit jarring and it will take you some time to get used to it, but after a few weeks, you probably won’t notice it unless you were a power keystroke user.

But one thing that tripped up a lot of people has been notably fixed. There is again a “file” tab in all of the applications, so it’s pretty familiar for users of the older version. Clicking on it brings up all the controls for saving, sharing, printing, and so on, in what Microsoft calls a Backstage area.

The name is a bit hokey, but the organization of the page gives you much easier access to all sorts of options, such as previewing what you are printing and saving to different file formats. It can be a real time-saver. One suggestion: I added the “Quick Print” option to the “Quick Access” toolbar on the very top of the Window, so I can again print without going to a menu.

Word’s Navigation pane: A version of this, called Document Map, existed in earlier versions, but it’s been markedly improved. You first use styling to indicate the different levels within your document–title, headings, and so on. Then, when you turn on the navigation pane, all the headings appear in an outline fashion on the side of the screen. You can just click on a heading to navigate to it, or rearrange your document by dragging headlines. I find myself using this all the time.

PowerPoint video editing: The new version lets you import a video clip into PowerPoint and then trim the clip, setting start and end points. It sounds simple, and again, you could always use a separate video editor to to this. But it’s incredibly convenient to have this capability within the presentation tool itself. In addition, PowerPoint adds a number of ways for making a video look better within a presentation.

Better graphics editing: Just about all the features now include new tools with which you can better edit graphics within your documents. The one I’ve used most lets you remove the background from a photo fairly easily, so you just get the parts you want. Sure, you could do this with a graphics program, but being able to do it within your document in much more convenient, and I’ve found myself using it more and more. There’s also a new feature for doing screen captures.

Sparklines: These are “in-line” graphics that you add to cells in a spreadsheet, letting you see trend lines at a glance. For instance, if you have monthly sales listed for each product, one more column in the grid can now just show a tiny chart representing sales.

Those are the five features inside the basic Office 2010 that I think are of most interest to consumers and small businesses. But of course the biggest change is….

Online Apps: The biggest change in the 2010 versions is the ability to edit and create your documents online, with Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. These applications are free: They are meant to compete with free online Web applications from Google Docs (or alternatives such as those from Zoho or Glide), so you don’t need to buy Office 2010 to use them. Documents are stored on on Skydrive, a Microsoft service that you can log into with a Hotmail or Live password. Microsoft is initially limiting this to 25 gigabytes, but that should be more than enough for most casual users.

If you buy Office 2010, though, you’ll find that integration with the online applications is a bit easier. You can create the documents locally, then use options in the Backstage area to save directly to Skydrive and share them. And you can take documents you created online and just simply click “open in Word” to move them to the desktop version for more advanced editing.

I found the online apps to work pretty well, for online applications, though they’re not advanced as the desktop versions. Microsoft talks about how they do a better job than competitiors of preserving the look of documents as you import and export from the desktop equivalents, and certainly, even complex documents did look quite good. For instance, in Word, basic editing was simple, and the word processor worked well with tables and inserted graphics; but it lacks the fine control of photos, charting, and reviewing options that the desktop version gives you.

Again, you don’t need Office 2010 to use the Web apps, but it makes using them easier. Web apps are pretty new, so I haven’t done a lot of sharing with them so far, but it does seem like a credible entry in the market.

If you’re a business user, a number of other features may be more compelling to you: Outlook now has the ribbon interface, with a social connector and a conversation view; the Web Apps can be used with SharePoint so you can share documents more easily on an internal server; and Excel can now handle bigger models, offers an easier way to work with Pivot Tablets, and adds PowerPivot, an in-memory tool for dealing with lots of data. (More on these later.) My guess is that the Excel and Outlook upgrades will be enough to make a lot of businesses want to upgrade.

Here is PC Magazine’s full review of the complete suite (note the Home and Office version just includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, and lists at $149 for the boxed version that supports up to 3 PCs, and $119 for the Key Card version). And here’s a post on how Office uses the latest PC hardware.

As I’ve said before, I’m surprised at the number of people who take Microsoft Office for granted. Yes, there are open source alternatives like Open Office, other reasonable traditional packages such as Corel’s WordPerfect Office, and now a number of good online tools such as Google Docs, Zoho, and Glide. All of those are more than adequate to create a basic document or add up a set of numbers, but none has the depth of features as the traditional boxed Microsoft Office.

In short, for the home user, if you have Office 2007 and just use it locally, you’ll find Office 2010 a useful but not necessary upgrade. If you have an earlier version of Office, though, now may be the time to think about upgrading.

“Recycling India’s e-waste brings jobs to poor — and health, environmental fears”

Editor — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:59:07 +0000

Women and children in Tila Byehta village in northern India collect several full sacks of copper strips from computer circuit boards with their bare hands every day

“This village on the outskirts of New Delhi is a graveyard for the electronic devices that power India’s information age. Charred computer parts line the main road. Discarded green circuit boards crack under the feet of children running on dirt paths. And in unlighted, windowless shacks, women use small flames to melt piles of computer cables to retrieve copper. India’s rapidly growing economy generates more than 500,000 tons of electronic waste every year, a number expected to reach 1 million tons by 2012. The obsolete computer and cellphone parts are dismantled, refurbished and recycled manually by hundreds of thousands of unorganised villagers across the country”

“Wraps come off iPhone4 and Apple fans love it”

Editor — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:33:11 +0000

“Apple’s grand plan to connect the world just made a quantum leap with news of a radically improved iPhone, dubbed iPhone4. Running a new operating system called iOS4, the phone will go on sale in Australia late in July, about a month after its June 24 release in the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the phone in San Francisco yesterday to an almost euphoric audience of 5500 software developers. He called iPhone4 “the biggest leap since the original iPhone”, combining so many features that to call it a phone seriously underestimated its capabilities. Greg Joswiak, head of Apple’s hardware marketing, said: ‘IPhone4 is going to change everything – again’. As Jobs showed off iPhone4′s video-calling skills, and one of those filmed was using sign language, he was clearly moved. “It’s moments like that you know what we are doing is worthwhile,” he said. The audience included a strong Melbourne contingent, among them Marc Edwards of Bjango, and Sean Woodhouse of Itty Bitty Apps, two small but successful developers”

“Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon”

Editor — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:26:35 +0000

“Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build. The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret. It is officially described as an orbital test vehicle. However, one of its potential uses appears to be to launch a surge of small satellites during periods of high international tension. This would enable America to have eyes and ears orbiting above any potential troublespot in the world. The X37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days, whereas the Shuttle can last only 16 days. This will provide the US with the ability to carry out experiments for long periods, including the testing of new laser weapon systems. This would bring accusations that the launch of X37B, and a second vehicle planned for later this year, could lead to the militarisation of space”

“Pakistanis divided over internet restrictions”

Editor — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:04:50 +0000

The Facebook dispute has provoked huge demonstrations in Pakistan

“Pakistanis woke up to find access to popular websites Facebook and YouTube blocked after a government crackdown on websites seen to be hosting un-Islamic content. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool reports on the reaction from Peshawar. The Facebook dispute has provoked huge demonstrations in Pakistan. ‘This site is restricted’ is the plain message on a white background that most Pakistanis have been getting when they try to access the Facebook website. It follows a High Court ruling ordering all internet service providers in the country to block the popular networking site until further notice. What triggered the action was a Facebook group inviting people to draw, and post, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad”

“The 64-gigabyte shape of the future”

Editor — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:52:02 +0000

“… I haven’t been to a used bookstore in years or bought a new book at a bookstore in months. First, Amazon brought an infinite variety of books directly to my front door. Then the Kindle allowed me to purchase most books through the ether in less than a minute. Convenience overwhelmed my obsession. The elaborate culture that once surrounded the printed word has become unexplainable to my children. Now my elder son, along with more than a million others, has bought (with his own money) an iPad — a purchase his mother still thinks would be an extravagance for me. But I get to play with it. I like my Kindle’s battery life. I can’t type on the iPad’s maddening virtual keyboard. But really there is no comparison. The iPad is one of the most elegant, useful, astoundingly cool objects ever produced by the mind of man. Da Vinci would drool. Newton would show an equal and opposite attraction. Edison would ignore the objections of his wife and buy one, preferably the model with 64 gigabytes”

“Stephen Hawking says time travel is possible”

Editor — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:57:37 +0000

“Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes humans are capable of time travel. Claiming he is not as concerned about being labelled crazy as he once was, Hawking has publicly aired his second startling theory in two weeks, after last week claiming it was ‘entirely reasonable’ to assume aliens existed”

Scientist warns of aliens, stay away!

Editor — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:14:04 +0000

“Logins for sale: Be wary of Facebook ‘friends’ in need”

Editor — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:07:17 +0000

“Facebook users may not consider their accounts to be worth anything on the black market, but a group of 1.5 million logins are currently being hawked by scammers. According to a new report from VeriSign’s iDefense, a scammer going by the name of ‘Kirllos’ claims to have gathered the login information for one out of every 300 Facebook users and is trying to sell the accounts to others. The incident is just a reminder that social networking users can’t just ignore strangers anymore — they should be able to recognize a phishing attempt from a ‘friend’ when they see it”

Apple’s next generation iPhone stripped back and discussed!

Editor — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:04:12 +0000

If you click on the link, you will be looking at Apple’s next iPhone… “It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City [US], camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It’s the real thing, and here are all the details”

“Studies show more evidence of water on moon, Mars”

Editor — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:59:12 +0000

“Ice deposits at least 6 feet (2 metres) thick can be found in some small craters on the moon, researchers reported in one of two studies showing more evidence of water on the moon and Mars. The second study suggested that ice has recently melted and re-frozen on Mars, widening some of the characteristic gullies on its surface. The two studies add to the political and scientific debate about how best to explore our solar system and the universe — with missions that include human crews, or experiments using robots and remote surveys”

“Apple to preview new iPhone software”

Editor — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:10:36 +0000

“Apple Inc is set to host an event to show off the newest operating system software for the iPhone, as the company prepares for a widely expected launch of its next-generation smartphone later this year. Apple sent an e-mail invitation to the media for a gathering at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California, on April 8, offering ‘a sneak peek into the future of the iPhone OS”

US: “Air Force to launch robotic winged space plane”

Editor — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 13:39:42 +0000

“After a decade of development, the [US] Air Force this month plans to launch a robotic spacecraft resembling a small space shuttle to conduct technology tests in orbit and then glide home to a California runway. The ultimate purpose of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and details about the craft, which has been passed between several government agencies, however, remain a mystery as it is prepared for launch April 19 from Cape Canaveral, Fla”

“The iPad attracts early crowds, but lines thin out later”

Editor — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:54:18 +0000

“Apple Inc. began selling the iPad to swarms of dedicated fans, but there were few early indications that the much-anticipated device would sell out in its first weekend The weekend introduction is the first real test of demand for the iPad, which Apple pitches as a new category of device making it easier to surf the Web and do other basic computing tasks. Since it was unveiled by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in January, debate has swirled about how much the $499-and-up tablet computer will appeal beyond the company’s stronghold of technology enthusiasts”

“Chinese web users boycott Google”

Editor — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:59:47 +0000

Baidu is China's biggest search engine with 60% market share

“While some [Chinese people] gathered outside Google’s head office in Beijing in support of its decision to end censorship, other Chinese citizens have expressed anger. Comments left on Chinese website sina.com.cn include ‘Google, out of China’ and ‘Go away, we have Baidu’ “

“Google’s decision signals change in Western businesses’ approach to China”

Editor — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:12:11 +0000

“The showdown between Google and the world’s most populous country marks a turning point in one of the great alliances of the late 20th century — the bond between Western capitalists and Beijing’s authoritarian system. After Google’s audacious decision to confront China over the issue of censorship, officials here insisted that the Internet giant’s case was an isolated one and would not affect China’s opening to the West or its market-oriented reforms. But Western businesspeople said the episode had underscored a broader sea change in how US and European companies deal with the government here. More specifically, they said, Western businesses have begun to push back openly against China”

China: “State media accuses Google of political agenda”

Editor — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:45:19 +0000

“China’s state media accused Google Inc of pushing a political agenda by ‘groundlessly accusing the Chinese government’ of supporting hacker attacks and by trying to export its own culture, values and ideas. In a commentary signed by three Xinhua writers, the state news agency also sought to defend the government’s Internet censorship, which Google has cited as one reason the world’s largest search engine may quit China”

“Brain scan can read people’s thoughts: researchers”

Editor — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:11:56 +0000

“A scan of brain activity can effectively read a person’s mind, researchers said. British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The evidence suggests researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone”

“Mars site may hold ‘buried life’ “

“Google to shut China search engine”

Editor — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:42:55 +0000

“Google has drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine and is now “99.9 per cent” certain to go ahead as talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent impasse, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking. In a hardening of positions on both sides, the Chinese government threw down a direct public challenge to the US search company, with a warning that it was not prepared to compromise on internet censorship to stop Google leaving”

“Apple set to be restricted on the use of the letter ‘i’ “

Editor — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:37:02 +0000

“Apple has lost a critical trademark dispute with a small US Company over the use of the letter ‘i’ in their product portfolio with the company facing a potential flood of ‘i’ branded products particularly from Chinese manufacturers”

“Israeli army nixes raid after Facebook leak”

Editor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:23:28 +0000

“The Israeli military called off a raid in Palestinian territory after a soldier posted details, including the time and place, on social networking website Facebook, Israel’s Army Radio reported. The soldier — since relieved of combat duty — described in a status update how his unit planned a “clean-up” arrest raid in a West Bank area, the radio station said. Facebook friends then reported him to military authorities”

“Science turns art in photo competition”

Editor — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:15:53 +0000

“A spectacular photograph showing molecular strands of plastic holding up a tiny green ball has taken one of the top spots in an annual scientific image competition”

The winning green ball entry. (Science Magazine)

“Chinese students may have engineered cyberattacks on Google”

Editor — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:09:29 +0000

“Students at an elite Chinese university who won an international “Battle of the Brains” contest may have been behind the cyberattacks on Google that escalated into a major diplomatic incident last month. US computer security experts have traced some of the attacks to computers at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, which boasts one of China’s most competitive computer science programmes, and the Lanxiang Vocational School in Shandong Province, the New York Times reported”

Meteorite smuggling ring exposed

Editor — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:49:46 +0000

“Two [Russian] smugglers — who also tried to ship out silver antiques, fossils, semi-precious stones, microscopes and old books in the suspect cargo — were initially charged with making a false declaration on their customs form. Only after a three-month investigation did officials discover that the mystery lumps were fragments from outer space and the men part of a larger crime ring including experts and scientists, Ledovskikh said. ‘They were part of an organized criminal gang. They had worked out a plan in advance to smuggle out of Russian territory… two meteorite chunks”

Iran: “Launches satellite rocket”

Editor — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:13:55 +0000

“Iran said it had launched a domestically made satellite-carrier rocket carrying live animals — a move that may increase Western concern that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [previously] said that Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in what appeared to be an easing of its position in the nuclear dispute. He [further] said the satellite launch was a huge breakthrough which help break “the global domineering system” — a reference to Iran’s Western foes. The Islamic Republic hoped to send astronauts into space soon, he said, speaking at a ceremony unveiling new satellite and space technology”

“Dubai’s globe islands sinking”

Editor — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:09:03 +0000

“There are fears the ambitious World Islands project in Dubai will sink into the ocean after photographs from space appear to show the globe is washing away and neglected. Construction of the man-made cluster of islands began in 2003 about 4km off the coast of the wealthy United Arab Emirates city”

“With its tablet, Apple blurs line between devices”

Editor — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:15:10 +0000

“After months of feverish speculation, Steven P. Jobs introduced what Apple hopes will be the coolest device on the planet: a slender tablet computer called the iPad”

“Clinton urges internet freedom, condemns cyber attacks”

Editor — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:43:41 +0000

“US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an unfettered worldwide Internet and urged global condemnation of those who conduct cyber attacks, as China sought to contain tension with the United States over the hacking and censorship of Google. ’A new information curtain is descending across much of the world,’ she said, calling growing Internet curbs the modern equivalent of the Berlin Wall. ‘We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas,’ said Clinton in a major address that cited China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt among countries that censored the Internet or harassed bloggers.’ Countries that built electronic barriers to parts of the Internet or filtered search engine results contravened the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of information, she said”

“Longest annular eclipse provides spectacle”

Editor — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:30:31 +0000

“A solar eclipse that reduced the sun to a blazing ring surrounding a black disk has entered the record books as the longest annular eclipse for 1000 years. The phenomenon which lasted eleven minutes and eight seconds, set a record that will not be beaten for another millennium. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon only blocks the sun’s middle therefore creating a ring, and could be seen across parts of Central Africa, the Maldives, southern India, northern Sri Lanka, parts of Burma and China”

No related posts.

“After Google’s loud stance on China, US treads lightly”

Editor — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:18:11 +0000

“Last month, when Google engineers at their sprawling campus in Silicon Valley began to suspect that Chinese intruders were breaking into private Gmail accounts, the company began a secret counteroffensive. It managed to gain access to a computer in Taiwan that it suspected of being the source of the attacks. Peering inside that machine, company engineers actually saw evidence of the aftermath of the attacks, not only at Google, but also at at least 33 other companies, including Adobe Systems, Northrop Grumman and Juniper Networks, according to a government consultant who has spoken with the investigators”

“Google may pull out of China over cyber attacks”

Editor — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:20:48 +0000

“Google said that it may pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating in China and targeting its e-mail service. The company said it had evidence to suggest that “a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts” of Chinese human rights activists. The attack was discovered in December. Based on its investigation to date, Google said it does not believe the cyber attack succeeded. ‘Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves,’ the company said” “

“iPhone still has the ‘best touchscreen’”

Editor — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:08:23 +0000

“In a recent “touchscreen performance test”, Apple’s iPhone has trumped the likes of the Nexus One, the Motorola Droid, and the HTC Verizon Droid Eris to boast of the ‘best touchscreen’ of all. The test was conducted [independently] by the Moto Development Group (this company has nothing to do with Motorola) on the eve of the recently concluded CES 2010. Note that in this case, we’re not talking about the looks and resolution of the screen. This is more about how the screen is calibrated and how well it responds to the users requests”